What If? You get sent to a random Sci-Fi setting an ROB offers you a non-military ship?

[Free-Stater 101]

So... tomorrow an ROB pops in front of you and says he is going to send you to a random sci-fi setting, he won't tell you which, nor will he take no for an answer. However, he offers a silver lining to you in that he will give you a non-military ship of your choice with the crew to man it.

That being said what are you taking into the unknown?

A "non-military ship" is classified as a ship (Not a space station) that while it may be armed may not be built explicitly for non-military use or has never been majorly modified for use in military service.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Explorer-class ship from the Earth Alliance of Babylon 5. It's a pure exploration vessel meant to survey unexplored space, contact alien races and construct and deploy their own jump gates. Over three miles long and barely armed because you wouldn't want to trust me with anything more then a few pulse cannons.

It can even generate its own gravity with a giant rotating section. Cutting edge technology, unparalleled by any other science fiction franchise!

 

[The Whispering Monk]

I mean...really only a couple choices here....

or this...

 

[King Arts]

So... tomorrow an ROB pops in front of you and says he is going to send you to a random sci-fi setting, he won't tell you which, nor will he take no for an answer. However, he offers a silver lining to you in that he will give you a non-military ship of your choice with the crew to man it.

That being said what are you taking into the unknown?

A "non-military ship" is classified as a ship (Not a space station) that while it may be armed may not be built explicitly for non-military use or has never been majorly modified for use in military service.

Will you tell us which world we end up in after making our choice?

Anyway I pick a Jurai tree ship it’s not designed for war they are more or less companions of Jurai nobility but they are stupidly powerful very few things could stand against it.

Juraian Treeships

Juraian Treeships are spaceships that come from the planet Jurai. In the OVA, the ships of the Juraian royal family are treeships. The ships house trees which are housed in their cores and are descended from the Choushin Tsunami, who descended to the dimension and became the first of Royal...

tenchi.fandom.com

 

[Free-Stater 101]

Will you tell us which world we end up in after making our choice?

Okay make your choice of ship first now ROB has you look at these options...

1. Star Wars
2. Mass Effect
3. XCOM
4. Star Trek
5. Halo
6. Destiny
7. Firefly
8. Battlestar Galactica
9. Dead Space
10. Star Craft
11. BattleTech
12. 40K

Now roll two dice.

There you go...

Who stole Lord Zedds personal vehicle?

 

[PsihoKekec]

I got sent to Firefly universe. All I know about it is from the movie, that it is sort of Wild West in space with oppressive WEF-style central government and cannibalistic space Commanche. I sell the ship and buy some land in out of the way place.

 

[Free-Stater 101]

okay, I am going to choose USG Ishimura.

Because everyone needs money and to be honest the ship would seem to be pretty sweet without any Necromorphs involved.

Now to roll the dice and...

Battlestar Galactica...

Well, if I can get accepted by humanity somehow as not being a Cylon plot I can put myself and my crew up for life by providing them with endless resources to aid them, if they reject my help however it's no skin off my back to just take the Ishimura and my crew out into space to set up shop for ourselves on another world as we have colonization capability and a large enough crew to handle it in a self-sufficient manner.

 

[UberIguana]

I pick this:

As anyone on board will tell you, it's definitely not a military vessel, despite what the neighbours might think. It is, however, very well armed and equipped for long range, long term missions. How loyal is the crew to me personally? I can't see a regular Starfleet crew going along with 'fuck with the locals for lulz'.

According to the dice I go to... Battletech. I know nothing about Battletech beyond big stompy mechs and that that's about how much thought the writers put into the setting's economics.

As for roll 12, I'd suggest Farscape.

 

[Agent23]

Was it ever specified that the Spirit of Eternity - Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
was a waship, and not a science one?
The same can be said about the Ark Mechanicus
ships.

Even if those don't work there are enougn non-military Culture SVs to choose from, and as a fallback I can just take the Ark from Tuf Voyaging.

Actually, now that I think about it, the Greatship isn't military, either, so might as well take it.
For the lulz.
And hope I can find a hyperdrive somewhere.

Aand, I roll 6, yo @Scooby Doo where is an immortal starship captain with a billion years old Jupiter sized starship supposed to bum a big enough FTL drive round these parts?

 

[Husky_Khan]

Explorer-class ship from the Earth Alliance of Babylon 5. It's a pure exploration vessel meant to survey unexplored space, contact alien races and construct and deploy their own jump gates. Over three miles long and barely armed because you wouldn't want to trust me with anything more then a few pulse cannons.

It can even generate its own gravity with a giant rotating section. Cutting edge technology, unparalleled by any other science fiction franchise!

Okay make your choice of ship first now ROB has you look at these options...

1. Star Wars
2. Mass Effect
3. XCOM
4. Star Trek
5. Halo
6. Destiny
7. Firefly
8. Battlestar Galactica
9. Dead Space
10. Star Craft
11. BattleTech
12. (Place a new option that I haven't thought of in this slot.)

Now roll two dice.

Got a two and a one for three so XCOM.

This is actually pretty neat. With the "lowtech" Explorer-class Vessel we can actually help Earth expand beyond the Solar System via Hyperspace right after the First Alien War. It'll be almost a legitimate exploration of the unknown instead of just exploring a largely "known" space so to speak like you see in many of the Star Treks. No final frontiers, literally the first ones.

Can probably carry Avengers (if its classic X-Com) in addition to the regular shuttles. Or maybe modify a Skyranger.

And its literally unknown beyond the hostile aliens from the game series, what could be out there!

The fact we can build jump gates just makes it even better for storytelling purposes. Strategic points and goals and all of that to string along the narrative that will unfold.

 

[King Arts]

Okay make your choice of ship first now ROB has you look at these options...

1. Star Wars
2. Mass Effect
3. XCOM
4. Star Trek
5. Halo
6. Destiny
7. Firefly
8. Battlestar Galactica
9. Dead Space
10. Star Craft
11. BattleTech
12. (Place a new option that I haven't thought of in this slot.)

Now roll two dice.

There you go...

Who stole Lord Zedds personal vehicle?

I rolled a 10 so Star Craft. I was worried you would have 40k be an option.

 

[Free-Stater 101]

I rolled a 10 so Star Craft. I was worried you would have 40k be an option.

You know I knew I was leaving something out! We have our number 12 in stone now!

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Starfleet Runabout. Gives me top of the line shields, multipurpose phasers and emitters, transporter, replicator, can be remotely controlled via combadge, and comes with a computer that has a humongous amount of information. Starfleet ships are very reliable, and with the replicator and the computer's instruction, maintenance would be no problem. Can cross a star system very quickly at impulse. Only downside is that Star Trek ships are incredibly slow at FTL, and it can take a few weeks to get anywhere within a single quadrant. However, the warp drive is also good in case I can't secure a ride on a faster, larger carrier ship (Star Wars, Stargate, Babylon 5, etc), or if jumpgates are heavily guarded by hostiles.

Now roll two dice.

Looks like I landed in X-Com. Seems like the first order of business is to send the humans instructions on useful Starfleet technology and replicators, maybe use my replicator to help them get their own replicators or factories up and running so they can make shields and phasers and transporters and so on. Not sure there is much of a galaxy to tour in this setting, though.

 

[Agent23]

A few extra universes we need here:
Stargate, treat Destiny, Atlantis and SG-1 as seperate IMHO.

Dune, doh!

Babylon 5, an old staple of such discussions.

David Drake: Hammer's Slammers and RCN.

Various Weber-verses, including.
HH
Dahak.
Path of the Fury!
That latest slog of his with the mind uploads, something about Armageddon Reef.

The Lost Fleet Series.

The Empire's Corps and Ark Royal by our very own @ChrisNuttall

Schlock Mercenary.

John Ringo's Posleen/Legacy of the Aldenata series.

Bujold's Vorkosiverse.

For the more high end ships like Culture GSVs and other post singularity high end crap - maybe ass Night's Dawn, the Uplift Wars and other Hard SF classics.

Ringworld and The Mote in God's eye could work quite well too. I certainly wouldn't mind making some Kzin fur smell of ashes.

Galactic Center Saga by Gregory Benford.

And the X-Files, the conspiracy/grays will shit their pants if they come face to face with something like the Greatship.
Half Life, too.


So will most others on both lists.

BTW, @Free-Stater 101 can I choose other ships and roll again?

 

[King Arts]

You know I was just thinking is there a point to having a spaceship in xcom or destiny? Doesn’t everything happen on earth there? It’s like being given a naval ship in Afghanistan or Switzerland its landlocked. So there are rivers yes.

 

[Husky_Khan]

You know I was just thinking is there a point to having a spaceship in xcom or destiny? Doesn’t everything happen on earth there? It’s like being given a naval ship in Afghanistan or Switzerland its landlocked. So there are rivers yes.

There's a whole galaxy to explore. Room for so much original content!

 

[stephen the barbarian]

the Argo from Battletech, with the irony that she's everything i don't want in such a ship.

i want a small ship with a small crew and ftl, she's neither. but she's comfortable, easy to maintain, and comes with a Company Task Force of mechs. i'm willing to strategically transfer equipment to alternate location so as to fit in an ftl, but i'll try buying one first

roll- 5, that's Halo. fuck.
i'm now really glad i have those mechs,

 

[Husky_Khan]

Looks like I landed in X-Com. Seems like the first order of business is to send the humans instructions on useful Starfleet technology and replicators, maybe use my replicator to help them get their own replicators or factories up and running so they can make shields and phasers and transporters and so on. Not sure there is much of a galaxy to tour in this setting, though.

So we are to be rivals. You'll be looking mighty silly when you effortlessly torment and eventually disable my massive three mile long Explorer vessel because I only have four pulse cannons for defense.

 

[King Arts]

the Argo from Battletech, with the irony that she's everything i don't want in such a ship.

i want a small ship with a small crew and ftl, she's neither. but she's comfortable, easy to maintain, and comes with a Company Task Force of mechs. i'm willing to strategically transfer equipment to alternate location so as to fit in an ftl, but i'll try buying one first

roll- 5, that's Halo. fuck.
i'm now really glad i have those mechs,

Uhh yeah you are fucked even with the mechs. Battletech isn't some master of ground warfare. But even if it is, Battlemechs can are big targets that can be bombed from space. Humanity in Halo was doing well on the ground but was getting fucked in space.

 

[Husky_Khan]

The Argo isn't the main exploration ship though. It's a headquarters and base for a group of smaller dropships that do the actual exploring. If they get caught out to where they are in a prolonged engagement and suffering from orbital bombardment, chances are things are already borked since they shouldn't be engaging in anything larger then a skirmish anyways since they only have room for like a company of Battlemechs, a dozen or so.

And if your under orbital bombardment, mechs or no mechs, you'd still be screwed. But if your in a ground engagement, mechs are better then no mechs generally speaking.